A man walked into a doctor's examining room.

"Put out your tongue," the doctor said.

The man put out his tongue and the doctor said.

"O.K. You can put your tongue back now. " the doctor said. "It's clear what's wrong with you. You need more exercise."

"But, doctor," the man said. "I don't think--"

"Don't tell I me what you think, " the doctor said "I am the doctor, not you. I know what you need. I see hundreds of people like you. None of them get any exercise. They sit in offices all day and in front of the television in the evening. What you need is to walk quickly for at least 20 minutes a day."

"Doctor, you don't understand," the patient said "I -- "

"I don't want to hear any excuses," the doctor said. "You must find time for exercise. If you don't, you will get fat and have health problems when you are older."

"But I walk every day," the patient said.

"Oh, yes, and I know what kind of walking that is. You walk a few feet to the train station from your house, a few more feet from the station to your office, and a few more feet from your office to a restaurant for lunch and back. That's not real walking. I'm talking about a walk in the park for twenty minutes every day. "

"Please listen to me, doctor!" the patient shouted, getting angry with this doctor who thought he knew everything.

"I'm a mailman," the patient went on, "and I walk for seven hours every day."

For a moment the doctor was silent, then he said quietly, "Put your tongue out again, will you?"

一人走进一家诊所。

“伸出舌头，”医生说。

那人伸出舌头，医生很快地看了一下。

“好了，把舌头缩回去吧。”医生说，“你的病因很明显。你需要更多的运动。”

“但是，医生，”那人说，“我不认为——”

“不要告诉我你认为怎么样，”医生说，“我是医生，不是你。我知道你需要什么。我看过数以百计的你这样的病人。他们没有一个人锻炼过。他们整天坐在办公室里，晚上就坐在电视机前。你所需要的是每天至少快跑20分钟。”

“医生，你不知道，”病人说，“我——”

“我不想听任何理由。”医生说，“你应该抽出时间来运动。如果你不锻炼，那么当你老的时候，你就会变得很胖，并且有健康问题。”

“但我每天都走路的，”病人说。

“喔，是的。我知道那是一种怎样的散步。你走几英尺的路，从家到火车站，又走几英尺从车站到办公室，然后走几英尺从办公室到餐馆去吃中饭再回来。那不是真正的散步。我所说的是每天在公园里散步20分钟。”

“请听我说，医生！”病人叫起来，对那位自以为什么都知道的医生很生气。

“我是一名邮递员，”病人接着说，“我每天得走7小时的路。”

医生闷在那里半天无语。然后他轻声地说：“再把你的舌头伸出来，行吗？”